The Complete Works of Isaac Babel Reprint Edition by Isaac Babel, Nathalie Babel, Peter Constantine (97 page)

MENDEL: Marusia, darling!

MARUSIA: Say: “Marusia, my sweet little darling!”

[The old man wheezes, shivers, half laughing, half crying\

MARUSIA [Sweetly.]: You ugly little pugface, you!

Scene Five

The Carting Union Synagogue in the Moldavanka, Odessa's Jewish quarter Friday evening worship. Lit candles. CANTOR ZWIEBACK, wearing a tallith and boots, is standing in the pulpit. The congregation—red-faced carters—is in deafening communion with God, rocking back and forth, spitting, wandering about the synagogue. Stung by the sudden bee of grace, they emit loud exclamations, sing along with the cantor in rough voices, falter and start muttering to themselves, and then loudly start lowing again, like oxen awakened from slumber. In the depths of the synagogue two ancient Jews—bony, hunchbacked giants, their long yellow beards swept to the side—are bent over a volume of the Talmud. ARYE-LEIB, the shamas, marches grandly back and forth between the rows of worshipers. A fat man with flushed, puffy cheeks is sitting on the front bench with his ten-year-old son between his knees. He is forcing the boy to look at the prayer book. BENYA KRIK is sitting on a side bench. Behind him sits SENKA TOPUN. They give no sign that they know each other.

CANTOR [Proclaims.]: Lkhu nranno ladonai noriio itsur isheinu!

[The carters start singing along. The drone of prayer.]

CANTOR: Arboim shorn okut nbdoir vooimar ... [In a throttled voice.] Arye-Leib, rats!

ARYE-LEIB: Shiru ladonai shir khodosh . . . Oy, lets sing a new song to God! [He goes over to a praying JEW.] How are hay prices doing? THE JEW [Rocking back andforth.]: TheyVe up.

ARYE-LEIB: A lot?

THE JEW: Fifty-two kopecks.

ARYE-LEIB: Well hold out—watch it hit sixty!

CANTOR: Lifnei adonai ki vo, ki vo mishpoit goorets . . . Arye-Leib, rats! ARYE-LEIB: Enough already, you ruffian!

CANTOR [In a throttled voice.]: If I see one more rat, therell be trouble!

ARYE-LEIB [Serenely.]: Lifnei adonai ki vo, ki vo . . . Oy, I am standing, oy, I am standing before God . . . where do oats stand?

SECOND JEW [ Without interrupting his prayer.]: A ruble and four, a ruble and four!

ARYE-LEIB: Im going crazy!

SECOND JEW [Rocks back andforth bitterly.]: It’ll hit a ruble ten, it’ll hit a ruble ten!

ARYE-LEIB: I’m going crazy! Lifnei adonai ki vo, ki vo . . .

[Everyone is praying. In the silence, snippets of muffled conversation between BENYA KRIK and SENKA TOPUN are heard.]

BENYA [Bends over his prayer book.]: Well?

SENKA [From behind BENYA.]: I have a job in the works.

BENYA: What job?

SENKA: Wholesale.

BENYA: What is it?

SENKA: Cloth.

BENYA: A lot?

SENKA: A lot.

BENYA: Police?

SENKA: Don’t worry.

BENYA: Night watchman?

SENKA: He’s in on it.

BENYA: Neighbors?

SENKA: They’ve agreed to be asleep.

BENYA: What cut d’you want?

SENKA: Half.

BENYA: Forget it.

SENKA: Why, as it is, you’re about to lose your inheritance.

BENYA: I’m going to lose my inheritance, am I?

SENKA: So where do you stand?

BENYA: Forget it!

[There is a gunshot—CANTOR ZWIEBACK has shot a rat that was running past the altar. The bored ten-year-old.\ trapped between his fathers knees, flails about, trying to break loose. ARYE-LEIB stands

frozen to the spot, his mouth hanging open. The TALMUDISTS raise their large, indifferent faces.]

THE FAT MAN WITH THE FLUSHED CHEEKS: Zwieback! That’s a pretty low-down trick!

CANTOR: My understanding was that I would pray in a synagogue, not a rat-infested pantry! [He clicks open his revolver and throws the empty cartridge on the floor.]

ARYE-LEIB: Oy
_y
you bastard! Oy, you lout!

CANTOR [Pointing at the dead rat with his revolver.]: Look at this rat, O Jews, call in the people! Let the people judge if this is not a rat the size of a cow!

ARYE-LEIB: Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!

CANTOR [Cold-bloodedly.]: May there be an end to these rats!

[He wraps himself up in the tallith and holds a tuning fork to his ear. The boy finally wriggles free from his fathers knees, dashes over to the cartridge, snatches it up, and runs off]

FIRST JEW: All day long you break your neck working, you come to the synagogue to relax a little—and then this!

ARYE-LEIB [Shrieks.]: Jews, this is a sham! Jews, you know not what is taking place here! The Milkmen’s Union is paying this bastard an extra ten rubles! So why dont you go to the milkmen, you bastard, and kiss their you-know-whats!

SENKA [Bangs hisfist down on his prayer book.]: Can we have some quiet? This isn’t a marketplace!

CANTOR [Solemnly.]: Mizmoir Idovid!

[Everyone prays. ]

BENYA: So?

SENKA: There are people we can use.

BENYA: What people?

SENKA: Georgians.

BENYA: They have weapons?

SENKA: They have weapons.

BENYA: Where do you know them from?

SENKA: They live next to your buyer.

BENYA: What buyer?

SENKA: The one whos buying your business.

BENYA: What business?

SENKA: Your business—your lands, your house, your carting establishment. BENYA [Turns around.]: Are you crazy?

SENKA: He said so himself.

BENYA: Who said?

SENKA: Mendel, your father, said so himself! Hes going with Marusia to Bessarabia to buy orchards.

[The hum of prayer. The JEWS are moaning intricately.]

BENYA: Are you crazy?

SENKA: Everyone knows it.

BENYA: Swear its true!

SENKA: May I not see happiness in this life!

BENYA: Swear on your mother!

SENKA: May I find my mother lying in a pool of blood!

BENYA: Swear again, you piece of shit!

SENKA [Scornfully.]: You’re such a fool!

CANTOR: Borukh ato adonai. . .

Scene Six

The KRIKS * courtyard. Sunset. It is seven o'clock in the evening. BENYA is sitting by the stable on a cart with its shafts raised, cleaning a revolver LYOVKA is leaning against the stable door. ARYE-LEIB is explaining the profundities o/The Song of Songs to IVAN, the boy who had run out of the synagogue on Friday evening NIKIFOR is nervously pacing up and down the courtyard. He is obviously worried about something

BENYA: The time is coming! Make way for time!

LYOVKA: He should have his throat cut, like a pig!

BENYA: The time is coming. Step aside, Lyovka! Make way for time! ARYE-LEIB: The Song of Songs teaches us: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth”—What does the great commentator Rashi tell us about these words?

NIKIFOR [Points at BENYA and LYOVKA, and says to ARYE-LEIB]: Look at them! TheyVe planted themselves by the stable like oak trees!

ARYE-LEIB: This is what the great Rashi tells us: “By night” means “by day and by night.” “On my bed I sought”—who was seeking? Rashi asks. Israel was seeking! The People of Israel were seeking! “Him whom my soul loveth”—whom does Israel love? Rashi asks! Israel loves the Torah, and the Torah loves Israel!

NIKIFOR: What I want to know is, what are they loafing by the stable for?

BENYA: Thats right, go on shouting!

NIKIFOR [Pacing up and down the courtyard,.]: I know what I know. . . . My horse collars keep disappearing. I can suspect whoever I want!

ARYE-LEIB: Here an old man is trying to teach the law to a child, and you, Nikifor, keep interfering!

NIKIFOR: Why have they planted themselves by the stable like damn oak trees?

BENYA [Takes his revolver apart and cleans it.]: Nikifor, I see you’re all nerves.

NIKIFOR [ShoutSy but his voice is weak.]: I’m not your slave! If you want to know, I have a brother who lives out in the country, still in his prime! If you want to know, my brother would gladly take me in!

BENYA: Shout, shout as much as you want before you die!

NIKIFOR [To ARYE-LEIB.]: Old man, tell me why they’re doing this to me!

ARYE-LEIB [Raises his bleary eyes and looks at NIKIFOR.]: I’m trying to teach the law, and you’re bellowing like a cow! Is this how things should be in this world?

NIKIFOR: Your eyes are open, old man, but you do not see!

[NIKIFOR leaves.]

BENYA: Our Nikifor seems a little worried!

ARYE-LEIB: “By night on my bed I sought...” Whom was she seeking? What does Rashi teach us?

THE BOY: Rashi teaches us: “She was seeking the Torah.”

[Loud voices are heard.]

BENYA: The time is coming. Step aside, Lyovka! Make way for time!

[MENDEL, BOBRINETS, NIKIFOR, and PYATIRUBEL enter. PYATIRUBEL is slightly tipsy.]

BOBRINETS [.Deafeningly loud.]: If you’re not going to cart my wheat down to the harbor, Mendel, then who the hell will? If I’m not going to come to you Mendel, then who should I go to?

MENDEL: I’m not the only carter in the world. There’s other carters besides me.

BOBRINETS: You’re the only carter in Odessa—or are you trying to send me over to Butsis with his three-legged mules, or to Zhuravlenko with his broken-down tubs?

MENDEL [Not looking at his sons.]: Someone’s hanging around my stables again!

NIKIFOR: They’ve struck root there, like damn oak trees.

BOBRINETS: You’ll harness ten pairs of horses for me tomorrow, Mendel, you’ll cart the wheat for me, you’ll get the money, down a bottle of vodka, sing a few songs. . . . Ai, Mendel!

PYATIRUBEL: Ai, Mendel!

MENDEL: Why are people hanging around my stables?

NIKIFOR: Master, for God’s sake!

MENDEL: Well?

NIKIFOR: Run for it, master . . . your sons . . .

MENDEL: My sons what?

NIKIFOR: Your sons are out to get you!

BENYA [Jumps down from the cart. His head down, he speaks distinctly.]: Papa, I happened to hear, from strangers, no less—both my brother, Lyovka, and I, we both heard—that you intend to sell the family business into which we have sunk a gold ruble or two and our own sweat!

[Neighbors working in their yards come to see what is happening. ]

MENDEL [Looking down.]: People, neighbors . . .

BENYA: Did we hear right, me and my brother Lyovka?

MENDEL: People, neighbors, take a look at my own flesh and blood [He

raises his head\ and his voice gets stronger.], my very own flesh and blood, lifting a hand to strike me. . . .

BENYA: Did we hear right, me and my brother Lyovka?

MENDEL: You wont get me! [He throws himself at LYOVKA, punches him in the face, and knocks him down.]

LYOVKA: We will get you!

[The sky is flooded by a blood-red sunset. MENDEL and LYOVKA roll on the ground, punching each other in the face.

They roll behind a shed.]

NIKIFOR [Leaning against the wall.]: Oh, what sin!

BOBRINETS: Lyovka! Hitting your own father!

BENYA [In a desperate voice.]: I swear to you on my life! He has thrown everything—our horses, our house, our life—he has thrown everything at the feet of that whore!

NIKIFOR: Oh, what sin!

PYATIRUBEL: Til kill anyone who tries to separate them! Dont anyone dare touch them!

[Wheezing and groaning is heardfrom behind the shed.]

PYATIRUBEL: The man is yet to be born who can stand up to Mendel!

ARYE-LEIB [To the boy.]: Ivan, get out of the yard!

PYATIRUBEL: I’m ready to put a hundred rubles down—

ARYE-LEIB: Ivan, get out of the yard!

[MENDEL and LYOVKA roll outfrom behind the shed. They jump to theirfeet, but MENDEL knocks LYOVKA down again.]

BOBRINETS: Lyovka! Hitting your own father!

MENDEL: You wont get me! [He starts kicking his son.]

PYATIRUBEL: Im ready to put a hundred rubles down for anyone who’s interested!

[MENDEL has won. Some of LYOVKA i teeth are broken, tufts of his hair have been pulled out.]

MENDEL: You wont get me!

BENYA: Just watch us!

[ With greatforce BENYA hits his father on the head with the butt of his revolver. MENDEL falls down. Silence.

The sunset’s blazing forests of cloud sink lower and lower.]

NIKIFOR: TheyVe killed him!

PYATIRUBEL [Bends over MENDEL, who is lying motionless on the ground.]'. Mendel?

LYOVKA [Gets up, steadying himself with hisfists. He is crying, stamping his feet.]: He kicked me below the belt, the bastard!

PYATIRUBEL: Mendel?

BENYA [Turns to the crowd of bystanders.]: What are you all doing here? PYATIRUBEL: And I say it’s not night yet! Night is still a thousand versts away!

ARYE-LEIB [On his knees next to MENDEL, to PYATIRUBEL.]: Oy, Russian man, why say that its not night yet when it is plain to see that this man is as good as gone!

LYOVKA [Crooked streams oftears and blood run down hisface.]: He kicked me below the belt, the bastard!

PYATIRUBEL: Two against one! [He staggers toward the exit.]

ARYE-LEIB [To the boy.]: Get out of the yard, Ivan.

PYATIRUBEL: Two against one . . . its a disgrace, a disgrace for all Moldavanka! [He stumbles off]

[ARYE-LEIB wipes MENDEL s injured head with a wet handkerchief.

On the other side of the courtyard, NEKHAMA—wild, dirty-gray— is hovering about in disbelief. She comes and kneels down next to ARYE-LEIB.]

NEKHAMA: Dont be silent, Mendel!

BOBRINETS [To MENDEL, in a deep voice.]: Stop fooling around, you old clown!

NEKHAMA: Yell something, Mendel!

BOBRINETS: Get up, you old carter! Wet your whistle, down a bottle of vodka!

[LYOVKA is sitting on the ground with his legs apart. Slowly he spits out long ribbons of blood.]

BENYA [ Chases the crowd of bystanders into a corner of the courtyard. He grabs a young man of about twenty by his shirt.]: Get the hell out!

[Silence. Evening. A blue darkness has fallen, but above the darkness the sky is still hot, crimson, and pitted with fiery holes.]

Scene Seven

The KRIKS * cart shed—a pile of horse collars, unharnessed buggies, harnesses. A part of the courtyard is visible. BENYA is sitting at a small table near the doors, writing something. SEMYON, an awkward, bald-headed peasant, is arguing with him, while MADAME POPYATNIK paces up and down. MAJOR, his legs dangling, sits out in the yard, on a cart with its shafts raised. A new sign is leaning against the wall. On it, in gold letters: “Horse-Carting Establishment, Mendel Krik & Sons.” Garlands of horseshoes and crossed whips surround the letters.